John 11:33-34

‘When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Judaisers also weeping who came with her, he groaned in spirit and was troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?”.'

Mary was weeping, and ‘the Judaisers' who were with her also wept. They shared in her anguish. With all their importance they had no solution to the problem. (These were probably not the official mourners who were paid to ‘lead' the mourning and bewail the dead to ensure a satisfactory expression of grief. Their tears were genuine as is evidenced by their later comment on Jesus' tears). Having laid stress on Jesus as the Resurrection, the author is now turning his reader's thoughts to the awfulness of death. Without the presence of Jesus death is still the master.

‘The Judaisers.' Here the term is more neutral. It still probably refers to leading figures in the Jewish world who were clearly known to the family but has a wider significance as including other local Jews, including possibly many who had earlier shown interest in what Jesus was saying.

Jesus was deeply moved by the sight of their tears and their anguish. Indeed He was ‘angry and troubled'. The Greek words used are very forceful. Anger cannot be excluded. ‘He was angry in spirit and deeply troubled himself' (enebrimesato to pneumati kai etaraxen heauton). But why was He so angry? Not at their tears, for He Himself would weep (v. 35). And the description goes beyond the stress that the performance of miracles lays on Him. Nor was He grieving over Lazarus for He knew that He was about to raise Him. No, He was angry at death itself. As He saw those whom He loved grieving, their grief reminded Him that sin had brought this on the human race, spurred on by the one who introduced sin, the Evil One himself. He was angry at the terrible woe that man had brought on himself. He was angry at the forces of evil that kept men enslaved. It is a reminder that though we deserve nothing He is not unmoved by our anguish, and this expressed itself in anger against the causes of our dilemma. Even in the light of resurrection He felt for the need of the world.

‘Where have you laid him?' So, emotionally moved, He asked where the body had been laid. He was here with a might purpose to fulfil.